Brands you loved which went horribly wrong

[WeDidntHaveWaterBottlesInThe80s]

I was just mourning the demise of the original iteration of Finery, when it was quirky and had great prints and interesting shapes at reasonable prices. Then it became weirdly expensive and Hobbs-esque, then cheap and dull. Any other sad losses? We can weep together.

Does anyone else remember Jack Wills?

My sister who was a teenager at the time LOVED it! We had shop in our local town and all the college kids wore it.

It was expensive but really good quality.

I was sad to see that it has ended up a 'Sports direct' brand. Literally cheapest crap possible with the logo stamped in the front so they can charge more.

I think M&S have improved a lot recently. I’ve bought a few things from there over the last year or so (I don’t buy many clothes). There’s still a fair bit of dross to wade through and some of their stocking decisions are baffling (seriously M&S - keep the basics in stock!), but there are some nice bits too.

Next c1982 - I had some lovely things from there: beautiful lined skirts with tops that matched/contrasted: was so easy to put together an outfit. But that was in the days when they only had one range per season - the lack of choice made things much easier. These days we're swamped with too much choice, constant 'drops' and rubbish quality. Add in the IG crowd who have seemingly endless cash to spend on outfits - retailers no longer have to try hard to sell to us.

Also Benetton - loved that shop in the early 80s but could seldom afford to buy anything. Moved to London late 80s and bought a couple of jumpers from there - beautiful quality and bobbling non- existent - wish I'd kept them. And Gap c1989 - lived in their clothes when they first opened in London - Uniqlo has partially filled their 'basics' gap but again, quality not the same. Used to buy 100% wool coats from M&S - remember saving up £150 to buy a camel one in about 1990 which was a small fortune given I took home about £300 a month, but it was fantastic quality/cut - prices are similar now for the same thing. Also Mulberry - bought the smallest of their bags in about 1989 for £85 - I still have it and use it and it's In beautiful condition. The prices there now are ridiculous and the quality has nose-dived.

Agree with others that I don't know where to shop these days.

This is sadly in the process of happening to Sezane. Design is still pretty but quality suffering more each year, warehouse mismanagement which means they sometimes send out damaged or mislabeled clothes (where a previous customer has changed over the tags).

Jane Norman and Bay- from a time where each high street brand had it's own look and feel. JN in particular was quality fabric, with a take on current fashion but wearable and cut for hourglass shapes. Beautiful colours too.

Oasis and Warehouse- again, used to be beautiful colours and pieces that were actually distinguishable as women's clothes. Some of the bits in Oasis were gorgeous. Now the same saggy, sludgy, androgynous polyester as everywhere.

I used to look around so many shops and swoon excitedly over the clothes, now I don't even bother going in.

As soon as brands are great and get loyal followings, they start cutting corners and doing cheap thin fabrics

When HUSH came into my line of vision, around 15 years ago, all the quality was amazing, only natural fibres, thick cotton, everything was nice quality

It started going downhill and now it's H&M quality at best, mostly thin polyester stuff and cheap thin viscose that shrinks terribly, and scratchy acrylic jumpers. I still have some of their old stuff, it's a different league

Another favourite of mine was TOAST but whilst they are still good quality, the designs are now Extreme Soviet Ljbrarian and nothing is fun or playful or pretty or feminine anymore

I ship my t-shirts in from NZ (seriously) after being given one by a relative who lives there (who I suspect got tired of me complaining). Good quality bamboo of a decent length and thickness with various necklines from https://www.nznature.co.nz/

I’ve never found similar in the UK and I’ve definitely looked!

I wear them with everything from formal suits for work to leggings for exercise (long enough to cover the bum which I see as essential!).

Also, Body Shop- went in to get a few bits last week, including a pear body scrub and their amazing matcha face mask. THREE items discontinued.

Gutted about that face mask, felt cool and calm on, and my skin looked clear and incredible after!

A shop I’ve found has gone massively downhill is House of Fraser. They’ve never recovered from going into administration and the sale to Sports Direct was the last straw.

Completely agree with this! Everywhere has dresses with weird shirred bodices and raw cut hems (and not in a cool All Saints way)

Original Urban Outfitters where they sold Vivienne Westwood and I got an APC coat in the sale still going strong 10+ years.

And all the others mentioned throughout - Topshop when it was cool and exciting.
Next when they (briefly) inhabited a shop in Glasgow that looked like an industrial nightclub. Jigsaw for aspirational wafty silk. Sigh.

Jigsaw

20 years ago I used to buy something every season even though it was pricey.

Now, all their clothes are too big for me usually (long) , very expensive and seem to be designed for very tall women.

Their mark up is huge because their Outlet has some bargains.

Boden
As above
I keep buying occasionally because they cater for Petite women with dresses but most things are too synthetic.

And going back 40 years- NEXT!
Their catalogue used to have swatches of real fabrics and the whole thing was much more upmarket. Then it morphed into what was C&A.

@Blankscreen I loved Jack Wills from 2007-2010ish (when I was in my early 20s). It had a very distinctive preppy vibe and the quality was good; I had some gorgeous wool jumpers from there, and a gilet which I only got rid of a couple of years ago.

Now it's poor quality fabrics and designs no different from the rest of the high street.

The Body Shop. These days it is a very poor relation of what it used to be in the 80s and 90s

Still gutted about the Body Shop. If it was as it was in the 80s and early 90s I would be throwing my money at them but as it is. Ow I’m just not interested.

I think this is a super thread.
I think shops like Reiss & Whistles charge silk prices but their shirts are made of viscose. Saw a shirt in Reiss for £160 odd pounds, called hammered silk, made from 100% viscose, that is just not acceptable in my world, neither is that price tag….

MaxMara, judging by their horrible advertisements on here.

Last year a friend and I had a trying spree in Jo Malone as we were going to treat ourselves as we'd heard good things (on social media anyway).

We thought every single one smelt like lavatory spray - they're just one note scents.

In the 80's when Next first opened the clothes were great for work, well made, good quality but for me expensive so saved up for 'going' out tops etc. Some of which I still have in the loft!

But Principles was my go to clothing shop, I loved the design of the store themselves (still remember the offset square logo with the different colour squares inside, no idea why) again quality fabrics, great wool coats and silk shirts, bought my 18th ad 21st outfits to go out in there, all wrapped in tissue paper with a sticker to hold in place and a paper white bag. It was a lovely shopping experience all round.

Jigsaw then opened in my city, but although some of the clothes at that time were great, the staff had such an attitude and high opinion of themselves, I gave up going in, but still have a stripy vest top I bought in 1989, and it still fits.

Agree with Monsoon, clothing in the past was different, great fabrics and well made now I feel I could catch fire walking past

@LolaSmiles @CrabbiesGingerBeer try KettleWell Colours or BAM bamboo clothing for decent quality T shirts in lots of colours

This is so true - I loved Next clothing, and its whimsical little sister Next Too. Next was originally conceived as a brand that filled the gap between M&S and Jaeger and it did it perfectly. The clothes were great quality and for me at the time ‘just’ on the right side of affordable as a treat or as a birthday present request. Now it’s just Primark with notions.

Ooh could you be referring to 'Next to Nothing', the Next sale shop? It was upstairs on Sauchiehall Street. A simpler time 😊

Ted Baker, yes! Used to be cool, really crap now.

A good rule of thumb is if you used to dream of buying it with your Saturday job money but now it's available in the form of a shower gel set on three for two in Boots, it's gone to shit.

This thread has made me realise why I used to enjoy shopping and now hate it. You used to be able to go into town and “feel” something different in each shop. Each one was like a mini experience: vintage quality vibes on River Island (or Monsoon later on plus the joy of all the beautiful things in Accessorize), you felt cool in Topshop and Warehouse, professional in Principles, ethical hippy bathroom stuff on the Body Shop (and then Lush - I loved Lush 15-20 years ago but they’re horribly overpriced now and have discontinued nearly all of the less flashy stuff that was brilliant and replaced it with gimmicky nonsense), a nose around H&M for some cool and quirky cheap bits, into Whistles, Jigsaw and French Connection to feel “high end” and get something good quality and beautiful.

Now most shops are just the same synthetic crap. I went into a nice city a few weekends ago and was depressed by the choice. French Connection still had some nice bits, Oliver Bonas had a lot that appealed and felt like nice quality, and although White Stuff and Fatface are not my style I had a browse and it was nice to see that they are still very much on brand and aren’t the same as everywhere else. But that was it - everywhere else was depressing.

So where can we actually buy decent stuff these days? I quite like Arket and Cos, but Cos is both more boring and a lot more expensive than it used to be, and Arket is mostly in the same vaguely minimalist style which dominates the whole high street, it's not very inspiring. & Other Stories is wildly variable in terms of quality. Is there anywhere which gets the heart racing a little?